What I Learned About City Life Financials While Traveling

I have been very much unplugged. In fact, I just spent two and a half weeks on vacation.

That said, I came back to a crisis situation at work, which has made life interesting. Unfortunately, my spouse is going through an unrelated, but also extremely crazy workload. By Wednesday night, we had both already worked nearly 40 hours (my spouse had a few more hours than me).

I am proud that we stuck to our food plan and have therefore been eating healthy and nutritious food despite the challenges in the way. On the converse, our plan to not have any alcohol following the vacation full of fun went out the window. Wine is extra delicious when you’ve been at work for 12 hours my friends.

I am working out of a different location than I normally do, and it is fancy! They have things like fresh creamo (that’s half and half for the Americans) instead of coffee whitener (nondairy creamer), and when you open the cutlery drawer (flatware), it actually contains forks, not just two stray butter knives. My friend has decided we should call this office Narnia, due to all of the little things that make it wonderful to us.

Do you have access to such wonderful things where you work? Cutlery, milk for your coffee, a dishwasher you don’t have to run?

City Life Financials

Back to the topic at hand, though this is still quite a rambling, life update type thing.

Cities can be quite expensive. Sure, the groceries cost less (thank goodness!), but the CHOICES of places to spend money!

Everywhere you turn, there are restaurants and stores and events.

It was wonderful, and it was also quite tempting. We met up with a friend for dinner and hit the bars one night. Bye bye a few hundred dollars. Bye bye.

Living in a small town has allowed me to put some of my frugal behviours completely on auto pilot. For example, I can basically tell you what I will order at all of the restaurants in my town, so the temptation to go out is significantly reduced. It isn’t even that it is a temptation, it’s that the desire to do so has basically disappeared after several years of living here. Couple that with the allergies and most of the time I just can’t be bothered.

I have never struggled with spending more than I can afford in restaurants or bars, but it was quite interesting for me to analyze how I reacted to spending a ton of money out. Of note, I am not really a fan. I balked at the prices of the cocktails at the bars. Sure, they were good, but I wasn’t keen to drink to my hearts content for $13.95 a pop. I am relieved to know that my frugal tendencies are still alive and well.

Affordable lunches, on the other hand, are fun. I met up with The Asian Pear for lunch one day and you can get a huge variety of Pho and vietnamese cuisine for under ten bucks.

When it comes to restaurants, I look for balance. I want to go out every once in awhile, and I thoroughly enjoy good restaurant food, but kissing goodbye to hundreds of dollars is not what I want to do either.

Going out with friends made me remember how easy it is for people to get caught up in a lifestyle that leaves them living paycheque to paycheque. You can always, always go out, and it can be a new place every time if you would like. There are food festivals and bars and food trucks and market stalls galore. Just because it is there does not make it an option, though. Save your pennies, my friends, save your pennies.

Other Comments

The Google Maps navigation talking lady? I love her. I had to drive in downtown Toronto during rush hour while it was raining. She was fantastically helpful.

I wish I had all you can eat sushi in my town. Mmmmm.

I still manage to drink too much on occasion and wind up wickedly hungover. My apologies to those that came to hang out with me the day after the wedding. (The wedding was excellent fun though!)

I am glad I had a lot of cottage time to get deep into the book I am reading, it is not a light read! Forthcoming will be a post of books I want to read this summer.

Housing in cities is offensively expensive. One day I will finish the post I have which compares house prices across major Canadian cities, to incomes. It is not a pretty picture, my friends.

Sleep. So much glorious sleep!

I learned to drive the speed boat while I was away, having very, very recently finally finished my Pleasure Craft Operators licence.

Commuting in my own car makes me realize why my spouse has decided a satellite radio subscription is worth it. Bloomberg, CBC, NPR and BBC make for a fascinating start to the day, I’ve been learning something every morning.

About Anne

Anne dreams of financial independence and is working her way towards it, whilst still enjoying life. She has a penchant for gift giving, which got her started with her first blog, Unique Gifter. She also loves money (who doesn't?) and needed an outlet to discuss it. Her likes? Seafood, figure skating, road cycling and skater shoes.

It’s almost impossible not eat out when on vacation. I try to go to restaurants that are local to the area, rather than going to a chain restaurant that could easily be found near where I live. My fiance and I will limit ourselves to going out to one fancy restaurant and that’s it.

I don’t drink that much. The odd time I get a cocktail, I usually go for their specials or a bellini. If the special happens to be the bellini, then it’s a bonus!Karen recently posted…Getting Down and Dirty at Mudderella 2015

Welcome back Anne. I see nothing wrong when people rarely eat out or stick to their healthy meal plans. I challenge myself once in a while not to eat out. As far as I remember, I was able not to eat out for more than 5 months. I’d love to do it again.Jayson @ Monster Piggy Bank recently posted…Ways to Get Ahead in Your Professional Career

I wish I coulda met up with you and TAP for some Pho – I can always go for some good Pho!

We recently had friends from the UK visiting and we had the chilled seafood tower at Blue Water Cafe and it was top notch, first class food and service. If you like seafood, make sure to check it out for a special night out!Kapitalust recently posted…Obscure Financial Knowledge Jeopardy: Play Now

Hi! Glad you’re back! Growing up and living in New Orleans, eating out all the time, going out for drinks, and music and food festivals all the time are the norm. It’s definitely an easy place to spend a lot of money in, if you like the good life. 🙂 Fortunately for my situation, I moved to Houston in January and to New Jersey this month, and because I’ve been busy with work, I don’t know where to go eat, so I just cook and eat in, and have been able to curb my spendy eating out habit!Chela @SmashOdyssey recently posted…Liebster Award!

I dream of my one AYCE sushi experience in Toronto. Not a thing in this country. The only AYCEs I can think of are like Asian bbq/buffet, and Valentines (ick).NZ Muse recently posted…I joined Snapchat and I kinda like it

It’s definitely a rare and amazing concept 🙂 We only have one fancy sushi place where I live, so every time we are in a major city, eating delicious sushi is on my to do list!
I’m glad that you are still dreaming of it… definintely a lifetime experience.
I read about “tender libre” (free fork) places in South America, but never managed to find a single one to eat at 🙁

Eating out has always been one of my weaknesses and when I travel I try to get a kitchenette so I can make some meals. I also love homemade sandwiches so I will make my own sandwiches to cut cost. I lose the whole restaurant experience, but I get to save money.Petrish @ Debt Free Martini recently posted…In Pursuit of Home Base….The Bad Credit Score Life

I have noticed a similar thing with options for places to spend money around my office. There are very few food/shopping options around, so I always bring lunch (yay saving money and healthy!) and I never run random errands around work. Sometimes its annoying not to have options around, but usually it is great to limit possible temptations.Ali @ Anything You Want recently posted…Should I Buy or Lease a Car?

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The Bottom

You made it all the way to the bottom! Thanks so much for reading.
Did you know that The Bottom is the name of a town on the island of Saba, in the Caribbean? I went there on a trip once.
The other bottoms I think about are my own bottom, and the bottom of the champagne bottle. Often when I find the bottom of the champagne bottle, my own bottom grows. Funny, that.

Thanks for reading!

- Anne

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